The City of Savannah seeks to increase the utilization of the local workforce to the greatest extent possible on City contracts. To achieve this priority, staff recommends approval of the Hire Savannah Policy which establishes hiring agreements with businesses benefitting from municipal contracts with the City to hire local workers residing in the city of Savannah, Georgia.  To the extent otherwise permitted by law, the requirements of the Hire Savannah Program shall be included in all bid awards of $100,000 or more for covered services and $250,000 or more for construction-related services as a method of inducing contractors to hire qualified workers who reside in Savannah.  
In an effort to increase hiring of qualified workers living in Savannah, Contractors must agree to:

• Exclusively post vacant positions, created as a result of the City contract, for five days through WorkSource Coastal (WSC), the local workforce development agency serving the coastal region.
• Interview and give full consideration to hiring qualified candidates referred by WSC.
• Seek to hire a pre-determined percentage of job vacancies with qualified Savannah workers.
• Report the employment dates of local Savannah workers.

A Contractor is deemed to have demonstrated good faith effort if the Contractor: is unable to hire candidates due to a documented lack of qualified referrals and/or a lack of special skills, experience, or expertise required to fill the vacancies; can show the local hiring goal can be met by existing employees who are local Savannah workers that will work on the project; is bound by a collective bargaining agreement preventing compliance; or documents other circumstances to be considered on a case by case basis.

The Hire Savannah “Hire Goal” will be twenty-five percent (25%) of job vacancies for the first calendar year of the program.  The Hire Goal will increase to thirty-three percent (33%) in Year Two.  The Hire Savannah Program will terminate at the end of Year Two, with a formal evaluation completed by the end of the third quarter of Year Two to determine whether the program should be recommended for continuation.  If continued, staff recommends the Hire Goal increase to fifty percent (50%) of job vacancies thereafter.

If approved, the Hire Savannah program policy will take effect January 1, 2018.

Approval